Been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food and freedom along with human rights. The wealth of iran is being looted. Time for change. This comes as the trumps wrap up their maralago holiday this afternoon, head back to washington by dinner time, returning to a packed agenda for this president leading up to year two beginning officially of the Trump Presidency in 19 days. Our sara murray is watching all of it from west palm beach, florida, where the president is currently. A number of tweets and messages for the iranian people, sara . Thats right. Its clear the president s mind is on Foreign Policy this morning and as you mentioned in that tweet hes coming out on the side of the protesters taking a strong line against the iranian government. Obviously that matches with the tough talk weve heard from this president when it comes to iran. He also weighed in last night amid his new years eve celebrations on north korea. He was asked about north Koreas Nuclear ambitions and their potential to reach the United States. All he would say, though, is well see. Poppy . And he also this morning is taking to twitter, sara, talking about pakistan, really directing the message of pakistans government leadership. Do we know why . Its not clear exactly what has inspired this tweet from the president on pakistan this morning. Ill read it. He says, the United States has foolishly given pakistan more than 33 billion in aid over the last 15 years and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They gave safehaven to the terrorists we hunt in afghanistan with little help. No more. We did hear from pakistans foreign minister on twitter this morning saying a response would be coming shortly to tell the difference between facts and fiction and the president has had sort of shifting tones when it comes to pakistan in recent months. Obviously this is very tough talk toward the pakistani government, but it was in just october that he was lavishing praise on that government when they helped to secure the freedom of a north American Family that had been held by a taliban linked group for five years. The president said that pakistan was finally beginning to respect the u. S. Obviously his view on that has changed. Poppy. Thats a good point and important context. Sara murray traveling with the president in florida, thank you very much. In iran the death toll is rising and rising as these antigovernment protests continue, entering into their fifth day today. State run media reports at least 12 people have died since these demonstrations began on thursday, and in a National Address last night president Hassan Rouhani warned anyone committing violence will, quote, pay the price. Lets go to our arwa damian who joins us with the developments. And you know importantly, arwa, yes, he is saying that, condemning violence, but at the same time acknowledging some of the key reasons why these protesters are out there . Thats right, poppy. We are actually expecting to hear from president rouhani, presumably later this hour, but in all of the public statements that he has been making, he is on the one hand telling people, warning people, about chaos, saying that the government will not tolerate violence, but he is, perhaps, striking something of a conciliatory tone when he does acknowledge the fact that these protesters have legitimate grievances when it comes to the economic situation. He also acknowledges that people have a right to go out and voice their discontent, but that they must do so peacefully. That being said, as you mentioned there, we have been seeing this rising death toll with two People Killed on saturday, another ten People Killed on sunday. Now, the government had, as it said, restricted access to some social media apps such as instagram and telegram that are used to rally people and what were seeing right now is not necessarily massively large numbers in any one particular demonstration, but they are widespread across the entire country. President rouhani has also been lashing out against the United States, against President Trump, pretty much saying that President Trump is really at the root cause of trying to foment this kind of unrest within iran to a certain degree, saying that the Trump Administration, especially has had iran in its cross hairs and this is where you see this taking on something of a different dimension as well. Repeated warnings by president rouhani from other leading figures within the religious establishment that people should not be pawns in a greater game because we are also hearing some of these demonstrators chanting death to the dictator. Something that is very rare as well, calling for the Supreme Leader to also step down. Its worth noting at this stage that these protests dont have a leader, there isnt a particular group that is in charge, so its unclear exactly what the demands are, poppy. Arwa damian reporting for us on that, thank you. We appreciate it. This morning some very mixed messages coming from north korea when it comes to their Nuclear Weapons and capability. Paula hancock is in seoul, south korea, with more. Paula . Two very different sides to the new years day speech from the north Korean Leader kim yong un this year. There was the usual nuclear defiance, but on top of that, there was also a conciliatory tone taken when talking about south korea, a great difference from what we heard last year. Usually these speeches give some kind of indication of what we can expect from north korea throughout the year, and this one is certainly an interesting speech. First of all, focusing, though, on what we did expect from kim jongun. He declared that 2017 was the year when north korea completed the nuclear capabilities. He also said that north korea is a Peaceful Nuclear state and they have no intention of using their Nuclear Weapons as long as there is no aggression shown towards them. He also had a very specific message for the United States. Translator america will never be able to provoke war or attack us. The entire continent of america is within reach of our nuclear attack. They must never forget the Nuclear Button is placed on my desk at all times. They must realize correctly that this is not a threat, but reality. Reporter were seeing a more conciliatory tone towards south korea. This time last year we heard from north korean officials suggesting that they wanted to talk to the United States or at least they wanted to see what kind of relationship they could have with the new Trump Administration. We heard nothing of that this time around. They are focusing now on the south korean side, saying that north and south korea must Work Together to alleviate the tensions and also saying if they Work Together they will be able to alleviate those tensions without help from the outside. They would do it on their own. This is a very different strategy really that were hearing from north korea at this point, saying he also said, quote, we genuinely wish for peaceful resolution with our southern border. Also saying that he would be willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics which start in february being held here in south korea. That would certainly be music to the ears of the south korean president moon jaein. A different kind of speech that we are hearing this year from north Korean Leader kim jongun. Paula hancocks, cnn, seoul. Thank you for that reporting. A chilling new assessment of north koreas threat to the United States and it comes from the former chairman of the joint chiefs admiral mike mullen. Listen. Were actually closer in my view to a nuclear war with north korea and in that region than weve ever been and i just dont see how i dont see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point. Our Global Affairs analyst kimberly dozer joins me from washington. Thank you for being here. Lets start on north korea and get into whats happening in iron. What do you make of admiral mullens assessment . Well, i think he can see that there isnt a strong diplomatic front, there isnt a strong outreach to get north korea to the table. Also, you can see in kim jonguns speech that he detects that the south Korean People are fearful, theyre on the firing line. Yes, the u. S. Might face a Nuclear Strike by north korea, but we also have Counter Measures that could likely knock such a missile out of the sky. South korea is under the firing line of all of that artillery from the north and its been estimated that in the first 48 hours of any conflict, that tens of thousands of south koreans would die. So he is opening a front by offering them the olive branch, saying there is another way out of this, a sort of divide and conquer strategy that probably wont work, but it certainly mudedies the waters. What about the very mixed messages we got as paula went through from kim jongun . He says in this new years day address to his own people well, as a nation have to accelerate this missile program. I have the button on my desk, right, to launch at any time. By the way, i wont launch unless i am threatened. Well, what he is messaging is the same sort of thing that President Trump has been messaging with his fire and fury remarks, that he has this capability. Kim jongun has long seen Nuclear Weapons as a guarantor of his regime and the people who follow him believe the same. Nuclear weapons as will ripley is reporting on the ground has shown, are seen as a matter of pride, but also a matter of survival. Yeah. And preventing regime change, right, which is what hes most scared of. Lets talk about the protests happening in iran right now. You have five days, were going into the fifth day here, you have at least a dozen People Killed, and as arwa damian was reporting, no clear leader or single reason why these protesters are protesting the rouhani regime and the ayatollah, at the same time you say this looks partially like a win for the Trump Administration, at least on messaging . It seems in the first couple days of these protests it was because of the economic grievances. Right. The Iran Nuclear Agreement didnt produce the economic rewards that the iranian people were expecting. A lot of companies have been slow to invest in iran, often in large part because of some of the signals that the United States has been sending of a half embrace of the jc poa under the Trump Administration and possible complete repudiation. You have people who started protesting for one reason, but then its become a relief valve for a lot of other unrest. Ive heard from iranians even in this country, they talk about how our government, our relatives, cant eat or cant pay for their gasoline to get to work, meanwhile were conducting wars in what, yemen, lebanon, syria. They dont like it. Right. And just to be clear here, i mean, unemployment is a big issue. 13 overall. Thats the headline number. The perhaps more telling number as my producer points out to me is almost 30 youth unemployment. Youve got a lot of young people on the streets leading this protests . A lot of young people who have been hearing these complaints or promises for years and not seeing results and not seeing a way out. The backlash against them will come, though, when these protests ebb because one of the things that youll see a lot of people in the crowd and some of the video thats been smuggled out are videoing each other. Some of those people are state security. They will be watching for the ring leaders and in the weeks and months to come, those people will be taken away for questioning to make sure they never protest again. Again, a fifth day of protest is under way right now across iran. Kimberly, thank you for the analysis on both fronts. Back to u. S. Politics, the president needs democrats to push forward his ambitious agenda for the new year. Were going to get reaction from a democratic lawmaker who says she is open to working with the president. Also, is this month make or break for President Trump . Former white house chief strategist steve bannon certainly thinks so. California is lighting up the new year in a different way, pot shops, set to sell recreational weed starting today. Our Miguel Marquez takes you live inside. Life happens. Thats why feeling safe is priceless. With adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit professionally installed for only 49. 00. Call today, and install an adt starter kit that includes security panel, keypad, key fob, entry and motion sensors and for a limited time, get a camera included and installed at no additional cost. Thats a 449. 00 value, installed, for just 49. 00. President trump seems to have the mid terms on his mind this morning. In a new years eve tweet heres what he writes in part, why would smart voters want to put democrats in congress in the 2018 election . Their policies will totally kill the great wealth created during the months since the election. People are much better off now. Joining me now is democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell of michigan. Its a pleasure to have you here and you are one of the few democrats that ive heard recently saying look, im open to working with the president. You also said, congresswoman, that you do not think that the issues that voters are going to the polls on in the midterms are just about the president. So is it a miscalculation among fellow democrats who say we dont want to give this president a win . I think its complicated. I think there are a lot of people that were just not happy. I was someone that predicted donald trump could win because i saw two things i saw anger, a lot of anger among people about people not caring about them and they were mad at republicans and democrats, and then there were a lot of people that stayed home just because they didnt like any of the candidates. I think that many people stayed home who stayed home last election, are energized. I have to tell you honestly, my town halls, im not somebody who is afraid of town halls. My town halls last january had thousands of people at them. Still, if theyre organized like an opioid with the school, i will have 400 or 500, but i did a town hall and had eight people at it in october. We have to make sure we are keeping peoples energies up and its still a year from now. Did you say on trade, eight people . But i also think that i know people care deeply. Its still getting people who care to say i can make a difference. Heres why i ask. I spent a good amount of time in your beautiful state in the last few months doing some reporting and heres a lifelong democrat who flipped and voted for President Trump, first republican hes voted for for president , worked in the auto sector like you used to, worked there dozens of years, he voted because of nafta and trade. Listen to this. You called nafta a shakedown of america. It was. Did you vote for President Trump because he wanted to change nafta . Right. He was talking about renegotiating nafta. Will you work with the president on that front . Oh, ive been very clear, i probably agree with the president on nafta more than most republicans do. I think its really i mean we have lost so many jobs in the state of michigan that have gone to mexico where theyre paying much lower wages, the environmental standards, its almost impossible to compete. My job is to represent the working men and women of my district. Trade and pension, ive got a very large group of people that spent their lifetime working, put their contributions into their pensions and thought they would have a safe and secure retirement. President trump promised him he was going to do something about it and he hasnt delivered on trade or pensions. How is that going to play out next year . I think those two issues will matter in november. Well see. Also, of course, on the jobs front, nafta is part of it, as you know, automation, especially in the auto sector, another part of it. Impeachment, there have been calls from some of your fellow democrats to impeach this president , some have put forth article of impeachments, doesnt matter really unless they retake the house and thats another conversation. Do you think theyre getting ahead of their skis here, your fellow democrats, calling to impeach the president right now . We need to do two things. I think one we need to focus on the issues that they want to see us deliver on. I think theyre tired of the partisan bickering and scared of a lot of issues. Billionaires are getting their tax cut but working men and women are still scared. They havent forgotten the depression that happened in 2008 and that anxiety is still in their hearts and souls and warrawant to see us work on those and make sure the country is competitive which is why infrastructure what about impeachment . We need to let the special prosecutor continue his investigation and have all of the facts and when we get the facts we need to see where that takes us. We need to focus properly on both issues. Will you give anything to the president on border wall funding in order to get a daca deal done . No. But then he says no go without it. Where does that leave d. R. E. A. M. Ers . This is a man listen, these kids, they were i have met so many of them. Theyre just crying. Theyre scared to death. These are human beings. When the president said that he was going to force the congress to act, he himself said, we have to do something for these kids. You know, we we need comprehensive Immigration Reform. We need to talk about national security. But we need to quit playing games with all this stuff. We need to take care of the daca kids. We should not pass a budget in january that kuz not ensure that we are taking care of daca and then we need comprehensive Immigration Reform for this country. He says he wont do it without wall funding. Well see where this goes. I want to get you on a different issue not getting the headlines but really important and its about guns and its about something called the boyfriend loophole and this is legislation that has been put forth time and time again by your democratic counterpart, senator amy clo ba chur and you are on board now, this is the loophole in the legislation from years ago that essentially does not ban guns from those who are guilty of Domestic Violence, but are not married to their victim or live with their victim or have children with their victim. Explain what it is and what your legislation would change. So the and i actually have dan donovan from new york has introduced the bill with me and i am getting bipartisan cosponsorship of it. It would say that someone who a partner who has been convicted of Domestic Violence, would not be able to own a gun. Most of the deaths in this country are coming from in Domestic Violence are coming from people with guns. You know, poppy, even the New York Times has been doing a series this last week talking about the disparity between states. One of the things that ive said, i lived in a home that there shouldnt have been guns. Its still hard for me to talk about it. How do we keep people that are mentally ill from owning guns . When we have people, because of Domestic Violence or something that happens in the home and they get convicted, there are too many loopholes. If we can keep people who have issues that are mentally ill that we can help and not have access to that gun, we can save lives. We need to Work Together to do some common sense things like this that help save lives. Congresswoman, please keep us posted on where this goes. So often things like this get lost in the other headlines. We appreciate your time. Thank you. It will be very important this year as we reauthorize the violence against women this should be a part of it. We need to talk about all of this as we do that. Thank you, congresswoman. Our best to your husband. We know hes recovering in the hospital. Hes getting there. Hes on the mend. Thank you. Thank you. Happy new year. Happy new year. Long before the november midterms the president has to deal with this month, january, a month his former chief strategist says could be make or break for his presidency. Well see the many reasons why when we come back. Heartburn. No one burns on my watch try alka seltzer ultra strength heartburn relief chews. With more acidfighting power than tums chewy bites. Mmmmm. Amazing. I have heartburn. Ultra strength from alka seltzer. Enjoy the relief. Wifiso if you cant live without it. T it. Why arent you using this guy . It makes your wifi awesomely fast. No. Still nope. Now were talking it gets you wifi here, here, and here. It even lets you take a time out. No no yes yes, indeed. Amazing speed, coverage and control. All with an xfi gateway. Find your awesome, and change the way you wifi. President trump has some pretty big boxes to check off in the last days of his first year in office. Through it all, the russia probes loom. Joining me now political commentators alice stewart, robby mook and from the examiner salena zito. Thank you for being here. Did anyone come from being out last flight or have we all slept . I got to sleep. Plenty of sleep. I was saying to my team i cant believe we booked such great panels on new years day. Thank you for being here, one and all. Alice let me begin with you. A big year for the president. He comes off this win on tax reform for republicans. He wants to get infrastructure done, health care done, he wants to get daca done, he needs democrats this time around. He cant do it all through reconciliation and get 51 votes. Does the drip, drip, drip of the russia investigation, big piece in the New York Times on papadopolous and his role in all of it, does that hurt on these fronts . It doesnt appear to be an impact with regard to moving the ball down the field. It took some time to get a legislative accomplishment but republicans were able to Work Together to get tax reform and now they realize they have momentum in their favor and they do want to Work Together with democrats, specifically with big issues like infrastructure, and certainly they cannot do nothing on daca. The key with that is, as congresswoman dingell says, thats an important issue that they need to tackle but why democrats want to continue with daca, republicans want to include border funding with that, but also they want to do away with chain migration. There has to be give and take if they want to get some of these big ticket items addressed and accomplished, in the beginning of the year and throughout 2018. A big difference is they need democrats. They didnt have any democrats on tax reform and they didnt need them. They will need democrats this time and you heard congresswoman dingell with me last block, and shes not going to give a cent on wall funding to get a daca deal through. Where does this go . I mean the president has a huge opportunity here to reach out, you know, make the first move to bring democrats into the fold and cooperate on getting something done. It is in the president s interest to cooperate with democrats. I would argue its in the republicans interest to cooperate with democrats as well because its their congress. They want to show they can get something done. So im surprised, im surprised that theyre taking such a hostile tone when, again, they only gain by having democrats come to the table. I would be less surprised if democrats were trying to stonewall here. You bring up the russia investigation, you know, the president could just stop talking about it and say that hes focused on infrastructure. Hes the one that keeps bringing this up again and again, making it an issue, attacking the Law Enforcement community. I think that is going to continue to be an impediment not because democrats are talking about it, but because the president is the one talking about it. Well, i am looking at all of the president s tweets, salena, from 2018, a few hours no, and he has not tweeted about the russia investigation. You know, we always have these a few hours. We have the starts, though, where we say oh, my goodness, hes going to change, its going to be different. I suspect hes never going to change. I suspect he will always be who he is. So he did he tweeted about pakistan this morning and about the money given to pakistan. I didnt see the other tweets. You know, he doesnt tweet about russia, i mean he has to alisons point, he has effectively been able to sort of not let that get in his way at the end of the year when he got tax reform done and to robbys point, i think he makes an excellent point, i think it helps both of the parties, but it helps the president the most, to Work Together on infrastructure, on daca, on welfare reform and fixing obamacare because its only going to get worse now that the mandate has been repealed. It sort of puts everything out in the twilight zone, so we dont know what the sort of the Economic Impact of that is going to be. Well so right we know that the projections from the experts are that yes, people wont have to buy this insurance, but premiums are probably going to go up an average of 10 for everyone else. Alice to you, the president s former chief strategist, steve bannon, who clearly still has the president s ear, gave a rare interview to axios and called january make or break for the president. Is the president going to take china on as strongly as he said he would during the campaign on trade . Is he going to slap tariffs on china . Whats he going to do on daca . Whats he going to do on the wall . There are these big things. Do you see january as really make or break . I think what weve learned is that the president and congress in general doesnt rely very well to any type of deadline whether ban none imposed or selfimposed. I think clearly in terms of the priorities, daca clearly is a priority, the spending is certainly a priority, and after that, i think infrastructure. I think january is important. They will focus clearly on the big speech, the state of the union speech, that will take a top priority, but one of the things they are focused on certainly is immigration and a strong emphasis on ending chain migration. Thats something they have already discussed, but that will clearly be top of the agenda for this administration and i think that with the state of the union on the calendar, that will be a big focus, but then those other issues that bannon mentioned, clearly are front and center on the mind. Its going to be they had a big win with tax reform. I think theyve learned that slow and steady wins the race and well see that certainly with other issues in 2018. Now they just have to sell tax reform to the American People because most of the American People dont love this bill. Robby, democrats, i mean, youre a master at running campaigns. What do democrats need to run on . Can they run in the midterms on russia, russia, russia, antitrump, antitrump, or do they need more to really win . Well, i think debbie characterized this very well. I dont think the russia investigation is a winning message. Voters are they watch and they look to see what your priorities seem to be, what youre spending your time on and what your focus is. This is why the republicans are looking to have a fight over immigration. They want to send a signal to voters that democrats are not focused on the voters theyre focused on immigration and that sort of thing and, obviously, its an important issue, but the republicans see that as a helpful wedge for their base. I think democrats need to run on what everybody always needs to run on, which is what are you doing for the voters, whats in it for them, how will you lhelp their lives . Were facing the same challenges as we saw in the last election, which voters dont think politicians are helping them, they think theyre helping special interests and not themselves and this tax bill is a perfect example of this where its a boon for billionaires, corporations. They created a permanent, massive tax cut for big corporations and they raised taxes on the middle class. Its incredible. Well, robby, robby, robby you know that 80 of the, you know, folks, middle class, does get a tax break. Its not as big and not permanent but not fair to say only the corporations got a cut. Its not permanent. This is important. They created a permanent massive tax cut for corporations and they said to families, well give you a tax cut unless in certain states, but yours is going to expire and corporations wont. One thing this is crazy and thats the kind of priority we need to make sure the voters know about. I have to leave it there. Salena gets the first word next time. Sorry to cut you guys short. No worries. Have a great new years day. Happy new year. The golden state is rolling out the green carpet as dispensaries get ready to sell recreational pot across the golden state. Could california hit the marijuana motherlode . Next. At whole foods market, we believe in food thats naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. So there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. We believe in real food. Whole foods market. California may have just found its newest cash crop, marijuana. Starting today some of the states medical marijuana dispensaries able to sell to customers without a medical card. Miguel marquez joins us in san jose. Not one of those customers but covering one of those customers. Indeed. Look, this place is going to be busy when they open up around 9 00 this morning. We are at buddys. There are several places able to sell recreational pot across the state starting today. This is interesting because they have the very first license to sell me disnal and adult use recreationally 0, 0, 0, 0, 01. Its made by the bureau of cannibis control which is a new department at in sacramento with the california government. It is a brand new world. They expect it to be extraordinarily busy here today. So how much can you buy . Well, if you are buying for adult use or recreational, you can buy an ounce. Each is a half ounce. If you are buying medicinally and have your card, you can buy eight ounces. Thats a half pound of marijuana. Thats how much all of this is that you can pick up. I want to chat with matt very quickly who is the owner of buddys cannibis. Youve been running this place since 2010. What do you expect today will be like . Were expecting lines around the corner. Overnight we should be seeing increase in sales of 30 . How much more have you stocked up in anticipation of today . Weve stocked up tons because weve seen other states once they go recreational how most of the dispensaries sell out on the first or second day, so we grow about 100 pounds a month of cannibis in the building, sell about 300 pounds a month, within the last week we picked up about a quarter Million Dollars of cannibis products from our farmers. Even though cannibis is common in california you still expect a rush . Absolutely. Absolutely we do, yes. A lot of folks have been sitting on the sidelines. By having the state come in with the regulatory program, really helps legitimize it and i think we will be seeing a lot of folks who otherwise were hesitant to shop at dispensaries. Thank you very much. Very good luck to you. The state if everything goes according to plan, theyre looking at an industry of about 7 billion in a few years and bringing in about a billion dollars in tax revenue to the state of california for just this one cash crop. Poppy . I just i still cant pick up those things again, by the way, because thats a lot of pot. Someone can buy pick up those things again. Thats a lot of pot, right . Thats what i could buy starting at 9 00 a. M. Pacific time today. If i had my medicinal card i could buy this. These are different strains as well. It is a lot of marijuana. If you are driving around in your car in california and you dont have a medicinal card you can have an ounce on you. It would be trouble otherwise. Okay. Its a whole new world. Miguel marquez, thank you for bringing it to us. All right. So switching gears in a big way, starting today, transgender recruits can start enlisting in the military. This is despite President Trumps efforts to ban them. You will remember that vividly from last year. His directive was immediately challenged in the courts and it will not go into effect at least for now. Barbara starr is live from the pentagon with more. This is hugely significant. It is, poppy. Good morning to you. What were really talking about is transgender individuals who wish to join the military, not those already in. That is subject to Different Court challenges at the moment. Those who wish to join the military, be recruited into the military, starting today, at least for a while, they can do it. They will not be banned because the Justice Department decided not to proceed with an appeal on a court case. Where it leaves it legally right now is between now and march 28th there will be an imply metation plan for the secretary of defense, recommendations about what to do, how to proceed, basically the standards of people in a gender stable condition, in the middle of surgery, in the middle of Major Medical treatment, all questions to be considered as part of this Implementation Plan going forward. The bottom line as of today, transgender persons are eligible to join the u. S. Military. Barbara starr at the pentagon with that important reporting, thank you very much. It was a huge year for the stock market. Will it continue, though, in 2018. The president says yes. Is he right . Next. Steyer the president S National Security adviser guilty. His Campaign Chairman under indictment. His soninlaw secret talks with russians. The director of the fbi fired. Special counsel Robert Muellers criminal investigation has already shown why the president should be impeached. You can send a message to your representatives at needtoimpeach. Com and demand they finally take a stand. This president is not above the law. 2017 was a banner year for the stock market. The dow closed up almost 25 from the time the president took office and he wants you to remember that. Listen. The stock market has gone up massively since the election. The stock market is at an alltime high. The stock market is at an alltime high. The Administration Says you can expect more where that came from this year thanks to tax reform. Lets debate it. Stephen moore, former senior economics adviser for the Trump Campaign and rana, our global economist. You each get 30 seconds to answer this question. Does the president get credit for the snashgmarket . No, i would give credit to janet yellen, who kept Interest Rates low, quantitative easing over the last few years which bolstered the markets. What i will say is i think the current tax plan is probably going to push the markets higher, but not for reasons that make me happy. We will see a lot of enormous Corporate Tax cuts going into share buybacks which is a saccharin way to push up the market, doesnt change the underlying story about companies but does inflate asset prices. Stephen moore. Hi, poppy, hi, rana, happy new year to you guys . Happy new year. The market has gone up 37 since the day trump was elected. I think there is a trump bounce here, no question about it. The question is, everybody wants to know whats going to happen going forward, and i can guarantee you were probably not going to see a 25 gain in the stock market in 2018 because a lot of the tax cut is now priced into the market and rana makes a great point, can we translate the financial returns into, you know, real gains for the economy in terms of jobs, higher wages, Business Expansion and so on. Im hopeful for that. I think you will see a lot of spending in the First Quarter of this year as businesses take advantage of these lower tax rates. Rana, what do you think . We have seen some Companies Giving out thousand dollar bonuses after tax reform was passed. Fifth Third Bank Corp raising their minimum wage to 15 an hour. Thats well and good. The question is will this mean meaningful hiring for these companies in the long term . Right. Will it . I dont want to poopoo anything any company does to benefit workers, i think thats great, but i do see these as more like token gestures. What i would have loved to have seen in the tax program is more of a quid pro quo written in, if you bring back this hoard of cash, 2 trillion potentially into the u. S. Economy, it has to be tied to Real Infrastructure projects, real worker training, real on the ground, main street projects and not giving companies Carte Blanche to buy back their own stock and make wealthy people wealthier. Thats what republicans like, being told what to do with, you know thats the issue, is it wasnt going to fly if they felt like it was mandated. Well watch. Stephen moore, fascinated by what republican senator marco rubio said on friday, someone who voted in favor of the bill. His exchange with a local florida newspaper. If i were king for a day, this tax bill would have looked different. I thought we probably went too far in helping corporations. By and large you will see a lot of these multinationals buy back shares, drive up the price. Some of them will be forced because theyre sitting on historic levels of cash to pay out dividends to Share Holders that will not create dramatic economic growth, but its significantly better than the current code. This is a republican senator who voted for the thing saying its not really going to result in some of the things were hoping for. Well, you know, poppy, i helped write the original version of the bill. Its not a perfect bill. It will be healthy for the economy. I dont disagree with what rana was saying. I kind of wish there had been a lower tax rate for the businesses if they invested it in, you know, hiring more workers or, you know, more plant and equipment and expenditures like that. But even if the companies lets say lets say, for example, that we bring a trillion dollars back to the United States from all these other countries and say that they use the money to pay out differe dividends to their shareholders or buy back stock, dividends get paid to the shareholders, that gets flowed through the economy, but ultimately we want to see these tax cuts lead to not just more jobs. Look im in miami right now and this economy is booming. What you want to see is good, highpaying jobs, so those kind of trump voters who didnt feel like there was any kind of recovery, people in West Virginia and people in ohio and michigan and wisconsin, they start to feel the impact in their paycheck, i think thats going to come in the form of a lower tax lower taxes taken out of their paycheck but hopefully higher wages to those workers. That was the ultimate objective here. To you both, one minute left, ran na, first, what is the most important thing that americans need to know about how their tax bill, filing, changes in the new year . Whats the most significant change for most American Families . Well, you know, across the board, the middle classes will see a very small decrease in taxes probably, but its going to be less than 2 of their pretax pay. Its really going to be minuscule. Richer people will see a lot more of a break. Corporations will see the biggest break. The big difference, of course, is that the individual tax cuts will expire where the Corporate Tax cuts will not and im worried thats going to create a bigger wealth gap between wall street and main street. I want the first bill in congress in 2018 to make the middle class tax cuts permanent. There would be a bipartisan consensus for that. One other quick point, theres 26. 5 million Small Businesses in this country. We talk about the Corporate Tax cut but those 26. 5 million Small Businesses will get a tax cut too and they employ 60 of americans. Thats good for workers and Small Businesses. Nice to have you both. Happy new year. Happy new year. Thank you, stephen and rana. Were following the continuing antigovernment protests across iran. The president is reacting this morning, saying that it is time for change in iran. We will have much more on that ahead. Stay with us. Welcome to at this hour. Im Boris Sanchez in for kate bolduan. We hope youre having a happy and productive first day of 2018. The president is. In his first tweet of 2018 President Trump lashing out at pakistan for what he calls their lies and deceit, saying the government is giving a safe haven to terrorists. The president also taking aim at the regime in iran while expressing support for antigovernment protesters. Earlier today President Trump tweeting out, quote, iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the obama administration. The great iranian people have been repressed for many years and they are hungry for food and freedom along with human right, the wealth of iran is being looted. Time for change. Cnn White House Correspondent abby philip joins us from florida, not far from